PSA BCG, quality or nah?

[AndyLate]

Comment retracted.

Andy

[Red*Lion]

How would they know if they did?

I miss Iraqguns. This forum is no longer the same.

Inspecting parts. PSA does a lot of business and Tool Craft would be very stupid to send PSA crap. Tool Craft wants to sell their product and make a profit. PSA helps them do that.

[Wake27]

I have never had a problem with any PSA BCG's. I have about 15 of them

How many rounds do you have on each of them?


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[ChattanoogaPhil]

Wife's rifle has a PSA premium (NB) BCG. She's on her third case (2K+ rounds) M193. Recreational use. No hiccups.

[Dennis]

I bought a couple PSA Premium BCGs during the last ban for a great price. Both had the ejector pin peened/flowered at the end and likely not inserted fully. Given the price and ban time I just replaced both pins.

So the QC argument goes, if they miss little, obvious, things like bright peened pins, what else do they miss? I like bargains as much as the next guy but especially in the flooded price conscious AR world I like proven items from proven companies more. That said, I do like PSA as a company and have no doubt they would respond to any CS issues I may have.

However, every item has it's place and after test firing both BCGs I put one in my Can Cannon and the other in my range bag as a finish-the-day spare.

Dennis.

[Leonidas24]

Of the cheaper priced BCGs that get a lot of love from people in the know this is probably the best bet.

https://www.righttobear.com/AO-Preci...16-hpt-mpi.htm

If you want to learn a lot about BCGs watch some SOTAR videos on them. I just bought a AO but have not used it. It came with a 4 coils extractor spring with an o ring. I replaced the extractor and ejector spring with Colt springs just to make me feel better.

See my previous post in this thread on page 1. The AO I bought from R2B last fall eroded 2 gas rings around 1,200 rounds. Since then the carrier and gas rings (still using the AO bolt) were replaced with parts from SOLGW and I've had no additional problems. R2B has offered to replace the carrier, and I'll likely take them up on that offer as AO Precision has not returned any of my calls or emails regarding the problem.

Is it systemic? Unknown, my sample size of 1 was still chugging along on a single gas ring after 500 rds at Rainier Arms' Carbine II in early March.

[Vegas]

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[OldState]

See my previous post in this thread on page 1. The AO I bought from R2B last fall eroded 2 gas rings around 1,200 rounds. Since then the carrier and gas rings (still using the AO bolt) were replaced with parts from SOLGW and I've had no additional problems. R2B has offered to replace the carrier, and I'll likely take them up on that offer as AO Precision has not returned any of my calls or emails regarding the problem.

Is it systemic? Unknown, my sample size of 1 was still chugging along on a single gas ring after 500 rds at Rainier Arms' Carbine II in early March.

Interesting. So SOTAR did a BCG “physical” and said the inside of the BCG was a pit rough and thought that it could erode gas rings prematurely but I’ve all liked the BCG. I’d post the video but the channel is down.

[Cold/Bore]

I also agree with this sentiment: It would be much more interesting to see a discussion on Geissele BCG vs KAC or something like that.

Geissele does a pretty good job of explaining why they made the changes to the BCG on their site, but it would be interesting to see some 'where the rubber meets the road' reviews.

The sticking point for me on BCG's is this little snippet from Battlefield LV:

We get about 20,000 rounds out of bolts before we start experiencing issues. The headspace gauge will start getting closing on NO-GO but not close on field. We will lose a lug on the bolt. The bolt will start skipping over rounds in the magazine and fail to insert a round. We use LMT and Daniel Defense bolts and some will actually go longer but at about 20,000 rounds is when we will start to see issues appear.

And this info from Us Army RDECOM:

The bolt is continually one of the top replacement cost drivers for TACOM, with an average monthly demand of ~ 1800.

The historical part life for the bolt in an M4 carbine averages approximately ~ 12,000 rounds.

The primary failure is cracked lugs resulting from high cyclic loading.

Previously (in 2006) Crane stated:

Most Bolts Subjected to Harsh Firing Schedules Will Show Initial Cracking Around 3,000 to 6,000 Rounds

On Milder Schedules, Nearly All Bolts Will Show Initial Cracking at 6,000 to 10,000 Rounds

Once the Crack Is Initiated, the Bolt May Fail at Any Time, or May Last for Thousands of Rounds, Depending on Crack Propagation"

Let me tie all this info together.

Battlefield Las Vegas: failures around 20,000; recent RDECOM study: 12,000 rounds before failure; older Crane data for milder schedules: 6,000 to 10,000.

So, I'm thinking most AR owners won't shoot enough rounds through their AR's, ever, to wear out a bolt. Most folks on this site don't do full auto; and, I'd guess, most folks on this site folks don't fire over 3,000 rounds a year.

I can almost always get Toolcraft C-158 BCG's for around $90.00. Seems it might last me a couple years. So I'd rather spend the other money on something else.

I'd like to someone conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of these bolts to an average shooter.

You’re being far too rational...

[Leonidas24]

Interesting. So SOTAR did a BCG “physical” and said the inside of the BCG was a pit rough and thought that it could erode gas rings prematurely but I’ve all liked the BCG. I’d post the video but the channel is down.

WTH I was just watching his vids two days ago.